Made with love

KOCHI: It was founded in 2014 by Himra Minhaj when she was a 17-year-old BBA student preparing for Entrepreneur Development bazaar conducted by Ethiraj College for women. “I reluctantly enrolled myself because my teacher compelled me. Afterwards, I figured out that my stall has to be unique to fetch me the first prize and that’s when my aunt in US told me about homemade body scrubs. That small step ensured that I won the first prize in the bazaar for three consecutive years and now I make Rs. 70,000-80,000 per month,” she says.With a team of four part-timers including marketing executives Akshita and pooja, marketing head Hisham Rahil and a packer, the company runs active instagram and facebook pages posted with product list and reviews for the same along with the contact number.

Thereafter, customer contacts are handled personally through the Whatsapp group where the team explains about the skin types and suitable products for the demands of the customer. The company caters throughout India but the response from Kerala and Chennai is better than other places. “I don’t have a website because customers may not understand what their skin needs and may conclude in a product that won’t work for them. I always want to guide them personally,” she shares.

College library laid the foundation for the company. “Ayurveda books from Ethiraj Library, professors from Govt. Siddha University and my diploma in Acupuncture contributed much to my research. I experimented with the ratios and gave away samples to my family members in the beginning,” she says. When asked about investment, she said “I started sugarmyylove with Rs. 1000 and now I spend Rs. 50,000 to make a turnover of Rs.2 lakhs. Fortunately both were from my pocket that grew gradually.” The independent and young woman who developed her production size from 100gm- 10kg has a different perspective on approaching for sponsorship. “I don’t want to be liable to anyone. When I can bring it till here, I can take mine far by small steps,” she says.

What is the secret behind her success? “With the help of the reviews in social media and word of mouth references, I took small steps to reach here. I started off with sugar scrubs for the first year’s bazaar, soaps for the second year and face packs for the third year. Patience and perseverance crafted my success”, she beams.According to her, the company was started to prove to her parents that she was capable to doing better things in life. “I didn’t realise what I do has reached far until my cousin Aleena’s college mate walked up and asked her surprisingly if her sister owns Sugarmyylove. When she told me about it, I had tears,” she adds.

“When other exhibitions are not affordable, why don’t you organise one for your stall?” she says when asked about her marketing strategies. “My friend Monisha and I held The Bazaar; expo in Nungambakkam with 21 stalls on April 22nd, 2017 where each stall had a turnover of about a lakh.”
Stating that she elaborated on the registrations that are open for second edition of The Bazaar which is supposed to happen on July 2nd week. One another future plan is to bring Sugarmyylove’s helpline number in place and to create a blog for the expansion of customer base.       

Challenges: copy right issues- people follow my recipes, label them the same and price them C20 less and the packaging jars are broken as courier mishandles them.
Products in demand: lip scrub, toxic pack, skin lightening face pack, under eye cream, tan removal and face clay & skin brightening. 
Unique products: Whipped soap butter (creamy texture soap) and cupcake soaps.